Sir Martin Sorrell has set a target of 2,000 job cuts this year to help WPP, the world's second largest advertising and marketing company, weather the brunt of the downturn.

Sorrell, the WPP chief executive, said the company, which reported a strong set of results for 2008 this morning, would look to reduce its overall headcount of 112,262 by about 2% gradually over the course of this year.

"We haven't taken a general provision [meaning cutting the target number in one move]," said Sorrell. "We are targeting a 2% reduction on average, about 2,000 over the course of the year."

On ITV's results and cost-cutting measures, including retrenching its digital ambitions, Sorrell said: "ITV seem to have abandoned new media. That may or may not be a good idea."

WPP's solid results saw its share price jump significantly this morning by 8.22%, or 30.75p, to 405p at 9.20am.

As the advertising markets deteriorated significantly in the final quarter of last year WPP became concerned that the year-on-year growth in head count was outstripping the dwindling growth rate of revenue.

Sorrell ordered agencies to take cost-cutting measures to combat what was looking to be a 3.9% growth in head count for 2008 – about 4,000 people – to be more in line with the 1% revenue growth WPP was experiencing.

It said today that these measures had resulted in a year end like-for-like growth rate of 1.3% in staff numbers, about 1,000 people.

"Recent actions taken [have] moderated the rate of increase in head count, which is now more balanced with like-for-like revenue growth," WPP said in its results statement.

Sorrell's target of a 2% reduction in head count this year is in line with its forecast of the group seeing a 2% year-on-year fall in revenue.

In its results WPP described the ability to adjust head count, and therefore costs, as akin to a "shock absorber" to help balance the decline in the markets.

"As a proportion of revenue, variable staff costs were 7.4% in 2007 and 6.6% in 2008," said WPP. "These variable staff costs provide a 'shock absorber' to operating margins as revenues come under increasing pressure. We estimate that at least half of these variable staff costs can be reduced in the course of a recession."

Sorrell said WPP has a three-pronged strategy for weathering the recession: growing in the emerging markets, driving revenue using new media and the adoption of digital technology and building its consumer insight division.

He said WPP was aiming over the next several years to drive the proportion of total revenue it derives from markets such as Asia, central and eastern Europe, Africa, Latin and Central America, Russia and India from 27% to about 33%.

WPP is aiming for revenues from digital operations to grow from 25% to 33% and for its consumer insight division, which includes the recently acquired TNS operation, to also hit 33% of total revenues.

Sorrell said WPP was "very concerned" about the outlook for the US market and had recently attended a "very negative" JP Morgan conference.

He added that in China and India, two major growth markets in which WPP enjoys a very strong position, there was "cause for concern" over dropping growth rates.

However, he added that compared with most developed markets these emerging nations still had phenomenal growth rates to be capitalised on.

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